North prepares for huge cull if foot-and-mouth spreads

Preparations are under way in the North for thee slaughter of as many as 50,000 sheep if more outbreaks of foot-and-mouth are confirmed.

It is feared that grazing sheep in the Glens of Antrim are spreading the disease and hundreds of blood tests are being taken.

Every sheep farmer in the North is to be asked in a letter for Brid Rodgers, the Minister for Agriculture, to tell her about any sheep movements over the past six weeks.

Slaughter of animals around each outbreak of the disease remains the best way of fighting the virus, she said.

Sheep within the 10km radius exclusion zone are to be blood tested with 30 extra vets recruited for the job.

Brid Rodgers said her department is planning for a possible doomsday position but she said whatever plans they laid, the farming community had to take responsibility for its own salvation.

Meanwhile, EU vets have extended a ban on all meat and dairy exports from Northern Ireland, after the two new cases of foot-and-mouth.

The North had been hoping to get the all clear until the disease turned up again, in counties Tyrone and Antrim.

Measures in some regions of the Netherlands are being relaxed however, on condition no new cases are discovered in affected areas by Monday.

The EU is also easing restrictions on the movement of livestock to enable farmers across the 15 nations to move herds from winter shelters to summer pasture.